Launch of the Professional Development Portfolio
The "Professional Development Portfolio" which was launched recently,
has been developed through a collaborative initiative by the Faculty of
Education and the Education Division to encourage the professional development
of student teachers. It will serve to bring together a collection of information
about a teacher's practice such as lesson plans, student assignments, teachers'
written descriptions of their instruction and formal evaluations by supervisors.
However, the portfolio is also more than simply a collection of artifacts.
What distinguishes it from a mere scrapbook or album of events is the thought
and reflection that goes into the development of a portfolio. It is the
means by which student teachers can show their successes and the process
of thought and reflection that influenced their growth and development
as professional teachers.
The main aims of the portfolio are to enable student teachers to critically
evaluate and reflect on the work that they have carried out throughout
their course of study, to create a link between theory and practice, to
provide authentic evidence of the skills which they have acquired in order
to give them greater ownership over their own learning while providing
them with a final presentation document which they can use for future employment.
16 January, 2001